This is an interesting interview with the lead designer of Neverwinter. Highlights include:
-For at least the first major part of the game, there will only be content in the area surrounding Neverwinter (Unless you use the foundry to do something else)
-There will not be open world events as of the launch of the game. The story of the game will be progressed via instances and 5man dungeon groups.
-There will be daily quests and constantly rotating events that encourage players to do different activities every time they log on.
-The endgame will feature only high level 5man dungeons, not raids.
-There will be a large scale PvE and PvP area that takes place in the lost Dwarven city of Gauntlgrym. I predict this will be somewhat similar to Wintergrasp in WoW.
-Cryptic is planning on continuing to release new content regularly into the foreseeable future, and will respond to what players are most interested in.
-PvP will be mostly arena-focused, with 5v5 matches being the norm. Players will be rewarded with XP, Gold, and possibly items depending on how well their team does at the end of a match.
-Leveling through PvP is a viable option.
-Still no official release date.
http://www.worldsfactory.net/giochi/pc/neverwinter-intervista-esclusiva
Neverwinter Scribe
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
Eight Days ‘til Neverwinter: What You Need to Know
For those of
you who have been following my articles, blog, recently established community
group, or had the opportunity to speak with me in person, it’s been pretty
clear that I am very excited for Neverwinter Online. As a
long time MMO and Dungeons & Dragons nerd, it’s the
perfect combination I have been waiting for since World of
Warcraft lost its sheen. Alongside that enthusiasm has come some
admittedly borderline-obsessive research behavior. Today, I plan to share the
highlights of what to expect and what you need to know to be prepared for Neverwinter’s soft launch, which is happening April 30th.
The
Trickster Rogue, or TR, is an agile, shadowy striker with a heavy
focus on killing a single target at a time. The Trickster Rogue has lots of
mobility, and benefits from striking his enemies from behind, or from stealth. The
Trickster Rogue dual-wields one-handed weapons, though they have a wide array
of ranged attacks as well. A video featuring the Trickster Rogue can be found
on thisYoutube page, which shows the play style of the Trickster Rogue,
which involves blinking and dodging between opponents, sneaking gratifyingly
brutal strikes in between rolling and jumping around the battlefield.
Given all of
these great RPG tools, I encourage players who can’t keep their excitement together
to work on a story for their character, and to check out some of the amazing
resources available for those who are interested in exploring the Forgotten
Realms universe a little more closely. If role-playing and story writing aren’t
exactly your cup of tea, there is plenty of discussion on the official community forums, as well as community pages such as the Neverwinter sub-forum on Reddit. There is also a wiki that has been
officially endorsed by the Cryptic team, run by Curse.com, which can be found here.
For those of
you who simply cannot wait until the 30th, Neverwinter’s
doors will be open to Heroes of Neverwinter ($200 kit purchasers) on the 25th,
and will be open for Guardians of Neverwinter ($60 kit purchasers) on the 27th.
For individuals still searching for a community to play with, WarCry will be
having an official community presence in Neverwinter, headed
up by myself. For those of you who are interested in joining the WarCry
community, I encourage you to check out our guild webpage, which can be found
at http://warcrynw.enjin.com/.
The first thing
you need to know is that the game isn’t actually releasing on the 30th,
Cryptic is simply releasing the game into open beta without any further
character wipes. What this means in layman’s terms is that the game isn’t ready
yet, but looks great and is completely playable. Things that are still missing
are things such as extra classes, more fine-tuning for class balance, and some
additional items, zones, etc. are still incomplete. Cryptic has decided it’s
better to get the product out there, and to let players begin playing (and
paying, of course), so that they can continue to get funding to further improve
the game, rather than having to try and fund raise off the promise of a good
game later on. What this means to players is that the game is still not
perfect, and there are going to be lots of changes coming quickly once the game
goes live on the 30th. There is currently no official release date
announced, but given the continuous state of the game between beta and live, no
official release date is really necessary.
The next
important thing to know is that Neverwinter isn’t your
typical MMORPG. Cryptic clearly has an image of D&D that
they’re trying to achieve, and they go about that image in a very specific way.
Rather than trying to create a sandbox environment that players interact with, Neverwinter emulates the D&D storytelling style. What this means is that the entire game is story-driven and
location based. The entire game of Neverwinter is instanced,
with no overarching open world. While this may be a turn-off to some
exploration-driven players, I encourage you to give the game a chance: the
world Cryptic’s developers has put together is beautiful and there are lots of
opportunities to climb and explore to your heart’s content. Plus, it’s totally
free to download and play, so there’s nothing to lose by giving it a whirl.
The available
races and classes in Neverwinter closely emulate the D&D origins of the game. The races available at launch
are humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, Tieflings (half-demons), half-orcs,
half-elves, and Drow. Drow are currently only available to players who have
purchased the $200 Hero of the North founder’s kit, but will be made available to all
players 60 days after the game’s launch (I believe they mean the actual
unannounced launch date, but no details on the situation are currently
available). There are no restrictions for class and race, meaning you can make
the character that is perfect for what you’re looking to explore. The game is also
highly receptive to story-driven players who want to write a history for their
character leading them up to the events of the game.
There are
currently five available classes available in Neverwinter,
with a sixth to be released shortly after the game is live (no current ETA).
The
Guardian Fighter, or GF, is a heavily armored class equipped to take
hits and engage the focus of the enemies. To those more familiar with the holy
trinity of gaming, this class is the staple tank of Neverwinter. The Guardian Fighter uses a one-handed weapon
and a heavy shield, and stands at the forefront of every battle. A brief
informational video about the Guardian Fighter can be found on thisYoutube page, which shows some of the cool and interesting moves the
Guardian is equipped with, including an awesome ground slam ability that knocks
enemies into the air.

The
Control Wizard, or CM, is a class that is perfectly summed up by its
name. Specializing in frost and arcane magic, the Control Mage is all about
staying two steps ahead of your enemies. With an incredibly awesome blinking
ability (on a 3-4 second cooldown), the Control Mage is able to freeze, choke,
and stun his opponents into submission. While most mage classes are very slow
and cumbersome to make up for the awesome power they wield, the Control Mage is
agile and ferocious, with acrobatic casting animations, and an area of effect
explosion ability from even the lowest levels. The preview of the Control
Wizard can be found here,
displaying the visceral feel that the Control Mage successfully conveys with every
attack.
The
Devoted Cleric, or DC, is a unique combination class that breaks away
from the typical role of clerics, priests, etc. in both MMOs and D&D. The Devoted Cleric has access to a number of
offensive spells with beneficial supporting effects, making them equal parts
blaster caster and area control/healer. The Devoted Cleric is a genuine hybrid
class, actively healing, damaging, and controlling the battlefield from the
back lines, rather than just spamming heals. The Devoted Cleric wields a divine
focus, and wears heavy armor, meaning they can even step into the fray if need
be. Neverwinter has done a great job of breaking the Devoted
Cleric away from the simple description of “healer”, but the holy trinity is
still alive and well. Players who don’t like to wait for groups and don’t mind
not being #1 on the damage charts (which are currently included!), should
absolutely check out the Devoted Cleric. The video for the Devoted Cleric can
be found at this link, which shows the divine wrath of the Devoted Cleric at
work.
The
Great Weapon Fighter, or GWF, is a heavily armed and armored melee
fighter who wades into combat, drinking in the rage of his foes. Wielding a
two-headed weapon, the Great Weapon Fighter specializes in a flowing dance of
slaughter. They swing the weapon in great arcs, causing area of effect damage
to enemies all around them. The Great Weapon Fighter is also capable of taking
a few hits, and is a more-than-able off-tank, especially at the lower levels of
the game. The Great Weapon Fighter is all about getting and staying in combat, building
up their damage as they continue to fight. Gaming veterans may also be excited
to hear that Neverwinter has continued the long tradition of
“Spin to Win”, paying homage to Harod in World of Warcraft or Garen in League of Legends, as well as many others, with
the Great Weapon Fighter’s ability Spinning Strike, which is exactly what it
sounds like. To check out Spinning Strike and a few of the Great Weapon
Fighter’s other abilities, check out the Great Weapon Fighter intro.
Neverwinter developers have promised many other classes to come, and have even put out a
list of their eventual plans, which can be found at this link. The only confirmed classes are those above, as
well as the Ranger, which has been confirmed by Cryptic community managers, and
can be seen briefly at 1:14 in the Great Weapon Fighter demo video.
Neverwinter takes place in the city of Neverwinter,
on the continent of Faerûn, in the universe of the Forgotten Realms. This is a
highly magical world, in which wizards and heroes are commonplace, and the
gods actively grant favor to their most loyal worshipers. Neverwinter has
suffered immensely in the years preceding the game, and the game begins with
the current Lord of Neverwinter (Dagult Neverember) sending out a call to
heroes of all kinds to come and help the city reclaim its once glorious title.
This call to arms provides an umbrella cause for players of all kinds to travel
to the city, where the game’s plot opens.
The final thing
for Neverwinter fans to keep in mind is that the game is
ultimately a story-telling device. From the first moments of character creation
all the way to the most complex aspects of the Foundry System, Neverwinter strives to give players an engaging experience
in which they play through stories, or create stories for their friends to
engage in. The game is “meant” to be played with the role-playing mentality
turned on, and they give you all of the tools you need to create your own
custom character, including a spectacular character customization screen, and
an unlimited space in which to write your character’s backstory and
personality.


A game-specific lore intro. For those of you who would like to be more familiar with the basic backdrop for the game and surrounding universe, check out this well-written intro to the game. The guide is somewhat intensive in terms of knowledge required to understand it, so I'm going to add a quick summary of terms here for the unwary:
Str=Strength
Dex=Dexterity
Con=Constitution
Int=Intelligence
Wis=Wisdom
Cha=Charisma
Each class has 1 primary attribute and 2 primary attributes that influence their abilities. For example, rogues must be highly dexterous, but some extra strength behind their blows helps, and some silver-tongued charisma also helps them evade their foes through deception.
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?23911-Brief-Lore-Intro&p=370041#post370041
Str=Strength
Dex=Dexterity
Con=Constitution
Int=Intelligence
Wis=Wisdom
Cha=Charisma
Each class has 1 primary attribute and 2 primary attributes that influence their abilities. For example, rogues must be highly dexterous, but some extra strength behind their blows helps, and some silver-tongued charisma also helps them evade their foes through deception.
http://
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Class Choices...
For those of you who have not yet chosen a class, I highly suggest you check out this great article by Justin Olivetti. He breaks down the 5 currently released classes quickly and effectively. You can find the article here.
If you're having an especially hard time choosing between two classes, or would like to see some up close gameplay shots from each class, you can check out their respective trailers below:
Trickster Rogue
Great Weapon Fighter
Guardian Fighter
Devoted Cleric
Control Wizard
If you're having an especially hard time choosing between two classes, or would like to see some up close gameplay shots from each class, you can check out their respective trailers below:
Trickster Rogue
Great Weapon Fighter
Guardian Fighter
Devoted Cleric
Control Wizard
Friday, April 19, 2013
Forgotten Realms Wiki
For players who are anxious for release and interested in getting to know some more about the game universe we are playing in, I suggest doing some research on the Forgotten Realms Wiki. In particular, I suggest you check out the entry for Neverwinter (the city in which the game is based), as well as some basic information about groups such as the Harpers and deities such as Mystra, Cyric, Kelemvor, and Oghma. Like all wikis, this resource will quickly have you searching through ten tabs you couldn't recall how you got to, and will help you immerse yourself in the story of Neverwinter without having to try and keep track of all the names they throw at you during the first few quests.
Rothe Valley Trailer
A very cool trailer about one of the story arcs planned for high level characters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=i3yF-zu8SJo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=i3yF-zu8SJo
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